Despite the pandemic unleashing in full force, the issue over holding or postponing board examinations is being debated.

• While there are valid concerns about the future, which include admissions to higher educational institutions, the possibility of holding exams in person poses a further threat to the lives of people.
• The National Curriculum Framework of 2005 affirms the importance of embracing the emotional, social, physical and intellectual growth of children within a framework of human values.
  1. Therefore, a question to consider is whether academic performances can continue to be the sole representation of student growth.
  2. Alternatively, student success can be redefined based on social, emotional and spiritual development benchmarks.
• Raising the quality of educational assessments and evaluations by involving higher educational institutions may even prevent a mass exodus to international universities so that young leaders can be nurtured to engage with underlying national challenges and add value by sustaining the fabric of a diverse and non-stratified India.

For betterment:

1. Virtual educational committees must be organised to rethink approaches to assessing student learning.
2. Question papers must be designed in a way that encourages students to critically engage with the material, contest perspectives and build opinions.
3. Right to education that affirms the importance of formative assessments, teachers could be invited to engage in evaluating student’s performance across the year.
4. If there are concerns around the tendency of schools to self-bolster their performance, reports, portfolios, samples of responses and grades could be shared across a pool of schools so that teachers can anonymously assess and provide insightful feedback on student performance, until a sense of self-accountability and trust can be cultivated.
5. Evaluating students on their performance through the year will contribute towards making evaluation and learning much more holistic.
6. Inviting higher educational institutions to facilitate online entrance exams could be another option. Eventually, the goal could be to involve students in self and peer evaluations.

Wind-up:

The pandemic presents an opportunity to redefine meaningful education even though it requires a concerted change across the curriculum in K-12 schools, the entrance criteria determined by higher educational institutions. Viewing this crisis as a signal for urgent change, core issues can be engaged with and re-evaluated to prevent students from being trapped in the current system of cramming, rote learning and anxiety.  The government needs to give complete autonomy to educational committees composed of students, teachers, educational leaders, scholars and researchers who can advocate, organise and implement this change nationally and internationally. Re-imagining educational assessments and evaluations, exploring alternatives is the need of the hour.

With the slow pace of the government’s vaccination drive, this article talks about other active interventions and measures for the prevention of a third wave of COVID-19 infections.

• The United States and Brazil have had three distinct waves.
• The United Kingdom had a small first wave, after which the virus seemed to be disappearing. This was followed by two explosive waves, which only subsided after a lockdown and an aggressive vaccination campaign in which 95% of all those over the age of 50 have been vaccinated.
• South Africa has also seen two waves.

Given the pattern, a second wave in India was almost a given. And once this wave recedes, it is highly likely that a third wave will build up, unless active measures are taken to stop it from building up. Now is the time to think ahead and find ways to prevent the next wave.

Vaccine as an option for preventing the third wave

• Vaccines are the best option. However, this might not be the most feasible option to blunt either this or future waves due to:
  • The huge population of the country
  • The slow pace of vaccination
  • Inelastic vaccine supplies both in India and globally
  • Limited finances with State governments which have now been given the responsibility of vaccinating the bulk of the country’s population.

Methods that work

• Along with vaccination, it is important to practise the full methods that have been shown to slow the spread of COVID-19 in different parts of the world: wearing a mask, physical distancing, hand hygiene and a ban on mass gatherings.
• While these measures may not be as effective as mass vaccination, but in the absence of vaccines, they are perhaps the only way to reduce community transmission and slow the spread of the virus.
• The near-universal adoption of nonmedical masks when out in public, in combination with complementary public health measures could reduce community spread, provided the measures are sustained.

Conventional wisdom in India has it that wearing a mask only works when it is imposed as a police measure. However, public health measures that work best are those that the people voluntarily adopt, drastically reducing transmission.

A special bench of the Supreme Court questioned the Centre, the States and the authorities on the various aspects of COVID management in a suo motu hearing called, ‘In re- distribution of essential supplies and services during COVID-19’.

• The Supreme Court said that it would not interfere in the work done by the various High Courts to monitor life-saving COVID-19 management amid a second wave of the pandemic.
• It asserted that the High Courts are best suited to make an assessment of ground realities in each State and find flexible solutions for problems faced by citizens.
• However, it said that it would examine issues that travel beyond the boundaries of States and have national repercussions.

The Union government announced that 5 kg of food grains would be provided to 80 crore beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY).

• The foodgrains will be allocated free-of-cost @ 5 Kg per person per month to nearly 80 Crore beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) over and above NFSA foodgrains.
• It would be on the same pattern as the earlier PM-GKAY.

• PMGKAY is a food security welfare scheme announced in March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• It is operated by the Department of Food and Public Distribution under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
• The scheme aims to feed the poorest citizens of India by providing grain through the Public Distribution System, to all the priority households (ration cardholders and those identified by the Antyodaya Anna Yojana scheme).

• Higher rates of Job losses.
• Reduced financial independence and future prospects.
• Greater burden of domestic and care work.
• Increased risk for front-line health workforce.
• Reduced access to vital health services and exclusion from potential Covid-19 treatments.
• Spikes in sexual, physical,and domestic violence and exploitation.
• Increased risk of pregnancy related deaths and teen pregnancies.

Most of the Women and Girls are facing financial dependency, and the main reason for this is the loss of Job during Covid-19 pandemic.

They are also facing lots of burdens of domestic and care work, because all schools and colleges are not operational in offline mode, that’s why all members from young to old are staying in 24*7 in the specified limited area. Caring of all enhance the domestic loads on women and Girls.

Mostly girls are playing the role of nurse in hospitals, so during Covid-19 pandemic , there is a very high risk for them as front-line health workforce.

During Covid-19 pandemic, Women and Girls are not getting all the required health facilities that they need. So there is a reduction to the vital health services for Women and Girls.

According to the reports registered and the survey from lot of Ajencies, Sexual and physical violence increases rapidly during Covid-19 pandemic and also there is a risk in pregnancy related deaths in lack of health facilities .